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Till December 11, 2004, China's has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for three years and its wholesale market of book, newspaper and magazine has been completely opened to foreign capital.

Throughout 2004, foreign investment was made in 13 distributing companies, cooperative programs on eight magazines have been realized between Chinese and foreign magazines and an investment of US$133 million was injected into 55 printing companies.

While importing foreign capital and operation, Chinese press and publishing companies were also actively seeking development overseas. The 11th Beijing International Book Fair with a theme of "Book and Peace" attracted over 500 exhibitors from 42 countries and regions as well as about 100, 000 visitors. 8, 250 contracts and intentions were reached on copyright trade. The Paris Book Fair featuring Chinese literature as part of the Sino-French Culture Year also drew attention worldwide.

China's press and publishing witnessed further development in 2004: a total of RMB193. 97 billion yuan was realized, as much as five percent of that in the tertiary industry and 1.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the whole country. It is roughly estimated that the aggregate assets in the sector totaled RMB200 billion yuan with a sales volume of RMB160 billion yuan.

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Last year, nearly 2, 000 illegal or irregular distributing centers were banned or closed, 26, 000 unqualified and irregular shops and outlets were shut down, approximately 5, 000 irregular printing enterprises were punished and over 1, 700 were shut down; more than 25, 000 cases concerning illegal publishing were uncovered; a total of 171 million illegal products were captured; 21 assembly lines for illegal compact discs were uncovered, adding up to 200.